POWER OUTRAGE
Storm of anger as thousands still wait for juice days after Isaias struck
Utility crews are out in force across the city, but Con Ed has been blasted by residents for taking so long to restore service.
Displaced Rockaways, Queens, resident David Nagelberg was hardly impressed Saturday to hear that all but a couple thousand city residents should get power restored by the next day.
The 61-year-old, recovering from heart surgery, remains in the Flatbush, Brooklyn, hotel where he relocated this past Tuesday after realizing his electricity wasn’t coming back on anytime soon.
“I couldn’t stay there,” said Nagel. “I thought this would be quick, but of course that wasn’t the case. The power usually goes out for two to four hours. This is the longest it’s been out since Sandy.
“I don’t think PSE&G did a good job, especially with communication.”
His was a popular sentiment in those Queens neighborhoods where residents — still without power four days after Tropical Storm Isaias — learned they could face another day in the dark before the lights come on.
Con Ed told city officials that 95% of the 32,000 city residents still living without electricity can expect restoration by 11 p.m. Sunday, said city Emergency Management Commissioner Deanne Criswell.
The hard-hit borough reported 18,600 households without power Saturday, with the largest numbers in Flushing, Bayside, Woodside and Astoria, she said. Con Ed was reporting another 9,094 customers without power in the Bronx, along with 4,468 on Staten Island.
“I get that this is a very frustrating situation,” said Criswell. “We’re working as quickly as we can. They’re very time-consuming removals because of the safety concerns. I just encourage everyone to take care of yourself.”
According to Criswell, there were still 1,500 downed trees on the city’s radar for removal — including some that fell into houses. Downed trees and power lines were still causing trouble, with Queens suffering the most because of its large number of both across the borough, she added.
Extra crews were dispatched Saturday to deal with the ongoing issues, with Con Ed reporting more than 1,700 workers were on the job along with 1,200 contractors and employees on loan from other utilities. Repairs included reconstructing full sections of the overhead wiring system in some locations.
The FDNY pitched in Friday with 75 members of its Special Operations Command Tree Cutting Task Force and FDNY Incident Management Team.
Maspeth, Queens, resident Cheryl Baranja, 56, lost power when the storm hit Tuesday. She’s currently living with two working outlets in her front room, where she’s sitting with a fan and her television after watching a tree branch take down a power line, starting a fire that the FDNY had to extinguish.
All her food went bad in the days since, and it’s unclear when normal electrical service will return: Con Ed told her a pole needs to be replaced, and the timetable for power remains hazy.
“My son is around the corner using someone else’s internet to do school work for night classes,” said Baranja. “I feel they’re doing the best they can.”
On Cooper Ave. in Ridgewood, Queens, some residents formed their own neighborhood watch — monitoring that no one would get hurt by downed wires. Alberto Delacruz, who sits outside his apartment on 64th St., noted when the storm hit, “20 minutes later all of these wires came down. Something sparked another thing and it went off.”
“They don’t do nothing,” said Delacruz’s neighbor, Lady Bisono. “Con Ed doesn’t do nothing.”
“It’s like something out of a movie,” Delacruz said. “It’s really a lack of investment into the community. The price of electricity is going up but they’re
not maintaining the grid. But hey, we’re living in a tough world. You gotta stand up for yourself.”
Carlos Cardona, 48, and his mother, Delia, 66, who live along 134th Road in Ozone Park, were also concerned about the lasting threat of downed wires.
“Two little kids yesterday came and went under the tape and near the wires,” Cardona said, adding caution tape had only been there since Thursday. “People can get electrocuted.”
The city’s suburbs were faring even worse: PSEG Long Island reported nearly 170,000 homes without power Saturday, while New Jersey reported 108,000 customers without electricity. Westchester County, according to Con Ed, still had nearly 70,000 customers without power.
Sarah Lippman, 47, of Ossining, was doing laundry at a neighbor’s house Saturday while waiting for the lights to return in her townhouse complex. She just received a text that the power should be back on Tuesday.
“My neighbors and I stand outside and talk to each other so we don’t have to sit in the dark,” she said. “And I have two dogs, with one recovering from surgery. It’s really inconvenient.”
In Connecticut, the number of those without service remained at a staggering 300,000, officials reported.
“We are making slow progress,” acknowledged Gov. Ned Lamont, who also urged his citizens to give the local work crews a pass on the problem.
“If you want to blame somebody, blame the generals, not the troops,” he said.
Jean Gervasi of Maspeth wasn’t sure who to blame, but she’s heard that her power was coming back in a day or two every day since the storm knocked her off the grid.
She’s still waiting in a neighborhood where the power lines sparked like fireworks as they fell. All her neighbors are still without power, too.
“It was like the Fourth of July,” she recounted Saturday. “We’ve been waiting and waiting and they keep saying they’re coming to repair. We’re like pioneers now. We’re making due.”
She and her husband, who struggles with lung issues exacerbated by the lack of air conditioning, briefly enjoyed the return of hot water — only to see that disappear, too.
Miriam Roefelson, 41, sat on her stoop in Ridgewood but found herself in the same boat as Gervasi.
She has power in a few rooms, but not enough to help her son Brandon, 18, who suffers from cystic fibrosis. Afraid his three-time-a-day nebulizer treatment might blow out the working power, she sent him to stay with a friend.
“I do not have have a fridge,” she said. “I do not have a stove. I do not have a microwave. I do not have an air conditioner.”
She doesn’t have any good news, either: Con Ed said power will likely be out until Wednesday.